Saturday, December 24, 2016

We wish all our readers a grace-filled and peaceful Christmas and we share with you a Christmas reflection:

Christmas Eve
Reflection during Vespers

The theme of my reflection, on this Christmas Eve night,
is ‘ Peace’. Conscious of the lack
of peace in Syria, Iraq, Africa, the
Holy Land and in various other countries of the world and bearing in mind especially
the lack of inner peace in ourselves at
times and so prevalent in people in
general, I was led to ponder the title given to Jesus before his birth, that of Prince of Peace, in the book
of the prophet Isaiah, which will be read tonight at Mass:

For
there is a child born for us,

a son
given to us

and
dominion is laid on his shoulders;

and this
is the name they give him:

Wonder
– Counsellor, Mighty –God,

Eternal-
Father, Prince-of –Peace.

Wide
is his dominion

In a peace that has no end.( Is. 9 )

We long so much for this peace that ‘has no end’.
We long for it for ourselves, our families, our communities, our friends and
for the world at large. We want Isaiah’s prophecy, which says;

For
all the footgear of battle,

every
cloak rolled in blood,

is
burnt,

and
consumed by fire

- we want that to be realised now, without further
delay. The Gospel tonight further reinforces this message of peace when it says:

And suddenly with the angel there was a great
throng of the heavenly host,

praising
God and singing:

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to

men
who enjoy his favour’

This theme of peace abounds everywhere in the Liturgy
tonight and tomorrow. In the entrance antiphon, Jesus is personified as peace itself as it says:

‘ True
peace has come down to us from heaven’

On the very first weekday of Advent, and on all
Mondays in Advent, I was very struck by the post communion prayer, again
referring to peace; it said:

“Come, O Lord, visit us in peace, that we may rejoice before you with a blameless heart.”

In all these quotes
humanity and God are linked together because peace is a gift bestowed on us by God the Father, through and in his son Jesus
Christ

The truth of Isaiah’s words come to mind:

You keep
him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in
the Lord for ever for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. ( Is.26)

This is really to say that our peace, our inner peace
is dependent on our relationship of trust in God. Peace is the fulfilment of
our deepest needs. It is the fruit of a personal relationship with the Eternal.
We are not alone. God, gentle and humble, is with us, watching over us and
guiding us. As we learn to relax and trust in love we become free of the walls
and barriers that imprison us in fear, prejudice, hostility and guilt. We are
filled with a new joy, a new life, the very life of love.

Sometimes when I feel my own inner peace is disturbed I
remind the Lord of his promise in St.
John’s Gospel, when he says:

Peace I
bequeath to you, my own peace I give
you.

A peace the world cannot give, this is my
gift to you.

In speaking about
peaceSt. Thomas quotes St. Augustine in defining peace as the tranquillity of order. Peace consists in the calm and union of our
desires and is twofold in that there is perfect
peace and imperfect peace.

Perfect
peace, he says, consists in the perfect enjoyment of God
which causes all our desires and tendencies to be united and at rest in one.
This perfect peace is only possible in Heaven.

Imperfect peace, on the other hand, is the peace which we can have in
this world. It is imperfect because, even though the soul’s principal movement
is to rest in God, there still remain certain obstacles, both within and
without, which disturb the soul’s peace. St. Thomas goes on to say that peace
is the effect of charity since charity means that we love God with our whole
heart by referring everything to him, all our desires become focused on loving
God in Himself and we know that love is
always a unifying force.

I
have come to understand that ‘the peace
which God gives is not a freedom from the storms and conflicts of life, but a mysteriousstrength and comfort
amid the storms; not the removal of pain, but the bestowal of a precious gift.
The gift is God himself, the comforter, the one who stands alongside us.
However, receiving God’s peace is not automatic; it requires the work of faith.

Also peace is not just the work of governments or armies or diplomats
but the task of each one of us. We can all become makers of peace. Peace must begin with myself, within my own heart
and from there radiate outwards. This is in fact possible because tonight we
celebrate what God, in his infinite love for us, has done by sending Jesus, the
Prince of Peace, to dwell among us
and in our hearts, as the teacher and bestower of peace.

The kingdom of God is within us but there, it has to
grow and spread. In that process we may experience the apocalyptic chaos and
disruption and the Messianic peace and harmony – and everything in between! Our
lion may have to learn to lie down with
our lamb! And then after coping with my own lion what about coping with the
lions in everyone else around me!?

The following
medieval verses recognised this inner
world and the transformation
Christ’s coming brings:

You
shall know him when he comes

Not
by any din of drums,

Not
by anything he wears,

Nor
by the vantage of his airs;

Not
by his gown,

Nor
by his crown,

But
his coming known shall be

By
the holy harmony

That
his presence makes in thee.

May all of us experience this holy harmony, this
peace, fruit of the Holy Spirit, and true effect of charity, gift of God to be
received by faith, as we celebrate with
thanksgiving the great mystery of Christ’s incarnation, of his coming among us
and within us, as the Prince of Peace. Amen

Thursday, December 22, 2016

In today’s antiphon we address Christ as “King” the
desire of “all the peoples.” Reflectingon
this Antiphon, I wonder to what extent Christ is truly “king” in my life. Is he “the cornerstone” of
all I do and say?

Do my thoughts and decisions take account of his will
for me at this moment, even if only by, as Frank Duff advises, glancing towards
him and asking internally “what do you want me to do?” before making
decisions.

This kingship in an individual’s life is very important
because we are all members of the mystical body of Christ. Just as the holiness
of one member benefits other members and the whole Church (CCC 1474-5), so also
Christ’s kingship in my life is of benefit to and helps the growth of his
universal kinship for the salvation of all human beings.

May God grant each of us the grace to welcome him this Christmas
as “King” and “cornerstone” of our lives.

Today we unite with all our Dominican brothers and sisters throughout the world in giving thanks for the life and example of our holy father, Dominic and for all his followers over the past 800 years.

On the 22nd December 1216 he obtained Papal approval for his vision of an Order of Preachers. May we his sons and daughters continue to bring the love, light, joy and hope of Christ to the people of our times.

More information on Order of Preacher and 800th Jubilee can be found here

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

O Rising Sun, you are the splendour
of Eternal Light and the Sun of Justice.

O Come and enlighten those who sit in
darkness; those who dwell in the shadow of death, Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus,
come.

As
I read this very beautiful O Antiphon, a memory comes to mind of long summer
evenings spent in the high field – the moinin
ard as we called it – sitting under a haystack just watching the
breathtaking sight of the sun going down beyond the woods and bog lands of our
farm in the West.

The
silence was full, deep and quiet, except for the little birds on their way home
to roost and the friendly crickets close by.
But as the last lights faded what a mystery it was to my child’s mind!

Where,
oh where had the sun gone?!

No
grown up’s explanations prepared me for what was always a fresh experience of
another rising sun as it streamed through the trees – right into my room the
next morning. The chorus of birds as
they flew again to the cornfields and the grass glittering with dew drops and
diamonds to me. Even then this scene had
power to thrill me with anticipation of something I knew not what! - was it a
foretaste of another Rising Sun still unknown to me?

What
or who is this ‘Splendour of Eternal Light’ coming to enlighten those of us who
sit in darkness – lost in our own little worlds? It is the Lord Himself, majestic and glorious
“wrapped in light as in a robe.”

Come
then my Lord, my God, teach me where and how to find you – you who dwell in
light inaccessible and I desire to come close to you, to be warmed by you. Oh Fire of Love, I beg you, “lead kindly
light amid the encircling gloom ...lead thou me on.” (Newman)

You
are a Living Flame, always burning with love for me, for every person in the
world.

Enter
into us this Advent-tide and set our hearts on fire with love for you. What is it that inspires you with such love
for us - your poor children? What draws you to us?

In
a few days time you will be born in a poor stable warmed only by your mother's loving care - just what draws you to us? – love is the answer. Love alone impels you to come once again this
Christmas night – not as I tasted you in your glory as a child, but as a tiny Babe – Oh you our Tremendous Lover – Maranatha.

O Key of David and sceptre of Israel, what you open no
one else can close again, what you close no one can open, O come and lead the
captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

This ‘O
Antiphon’ that the Church sings this evening at the Magnificat, has its roots
like all the other Antiphons in sacred scripture, in this case in Isaiah
chapter 22 and in Luke chapter I.

Our Lord is
addressed as Key of David – Jesus is Son of David through his foster father, St
Joseph, who was of the house of David.
David was the most beloved and important King in Israel’s history – “a
man after the Lord’s own heart” as it says in the Acts of the Apostles. So Jesus in his human ancestry is truly one
of us as he is truly Son of God in his divine nature “conceived in the womb of
the Virgin Mary by the Holy spirit. (Mt Ch 1)

A key is an
indispensable instrument for opening and closing a door, so it is a very
appropriate symbol with which to address our awaited Saviour. The Babe of
Bethlehem, whom we await, did not die because he was born but He was born in
order to die – the Crib and the Cross are closely associated. By His obedience in suffering His Passion, death
and Resurrection, Jesus opened the gates of heaven for the whole human race
which our first parents had closed by their disobedience. There is a lovely Icon called ‘the harrowing
of hell’ where Jesus on Holy Saturday is seen in His descent into hell and
taking both Adam and Eve by the hand
raised them up to come with Him into His Father’s House and all their posterity
after them.

After that
liberation is there any prison, darkness or death from which Jesus cannot free
us? Yet we need another key – the key of faith which we receive at our Baptism
to help us lay hold of the blessings Jesus is offering. We join Bartimaeus, the blind man, at the side
of the road, who, when he heard that Jesus, the Nazarene, was passing by, cried
out: ‘Jesus, Son of David have pity on
me (cf Lk Ch 18). We do it, not only in
our own name but in the name of all who are captive in any way, in darkness and
the shadow of death. May we too, hear
Jesus’ response: “Receive your sight, your faith has saved you.”

Monday, December 19, 2016

Today,
we pray the third of the seven ‘O Antiphons’ leading up to the celebration of
the fathomless mystery of the birth of Jesus among us over 2000 years ago:

O root
of Jesse, set up a sign to the peoples, come to save us, and delay no more.

On the first of these seven days, the
Church placed on our lips, the plea ‘come and teach us the way of truth’ – on
the second day we are called upon to plead ‘come and save us with your
outstretched arm (a truly beautiful concept ), and now today, with still four more days
to go before Christmas Eve, we are called to echo the longing of the peoples over the
ages, who suffered such anguish in their waiting for the Messiah – yes, we are
called to this insistent prayer – ‘come and save us and delay no more.

This longing of the ages is expressed so
well in one of the Advent hymns:

‘Long the ages rolled and slowly to the coming of the Word.

Fervent longings grew more fervent, undismayed by hopes deferred.

Weaker spirits sighed and whispered, “Could the Lord of all forget?”

While the prophets scanned the portents, And in patience said, “Not yet”.

So how do we in this day and age, prepare
for this great joy of Jesus birth among us which occurred over 2000 years ago?

In answer to this question , I would like
to share a few thoughts from an article by one of our English Dominicans
written many years ago. He commences by quoting the Scripture
text:

“While all things were in quiet silence…thy almighty Word leapt down upon
the earth”.

Then he goes on to remind us “ In the stillness of the night, the
mystery of Christmas was enacted. In
silence, lowliness and poverty, the Word of God came into the world. This mystery shows us under what
conditions a holy birth should take place in us and how we can have that union
with God for which we long. Not in
noise, turmoil or worry can Christ be born in us. Only when we lie low and listen to God’s
will, can he be born in us.

The gift to give God is our nothingness,
the gift God is waiting for us to offer him is the very wretchedness which
humbles us. The stable in us to which we
should invite God to come, that place is like a slum which we run away from. Where we are weakest, the things we fail
in, where we are characteristically weak, where we commit faults week after
week, this is the very stable to which we must invite him.

So often we strive to become better before we will invite God to come to us, but we must let God come to the poor
sinner that we are and not to be ashamed to let him come to our slum.

God will come – God will come - God will come”.

“We will not have paid true homage to
Christ unless we have a crib in
ourselves, the very thing which we think is an obstacle to union with God is the very means by which
we can come to him. So let us bring him
to that slum that inner crib, and it will
become a holy cell in which Christ can dwell. God loves us, so we need
to have confidence to let his mercy and love come to us where we are weak and
lowly, we must not run away, the most
precious thing we have to give him is our weakness”.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

O Adonai and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush
and you gave him the Law on Sinai, O come and save us with your mighty power.

Our O Antiphon this evening invokes
God as Adonai and Leader who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him
the Law on Sinai, as we read in the Book of Exodus. God, the Lord of creation, intervened in the
life of his people at a time when they were sorely oppressed and forsaken in
Egypt – when their situation seemed humanly hopeless and Moses himself was
fleeing for his life from Pharoah, having killed an Egyptian and buried him in
the sand.

When we look around us today our
situation is no different – we see people in their millions fleeing for their
lives from war and violence; people enslaved in so many ways by the glamour of
riches and addictions of every kind; the problem of human trafficking and pornography
– just to name a few. There are so many
people searching frantically for happiness which eludes them and lets them
continually disappointed and depressed because they are searching in the wrong
places. Sometimes, like the Israelites
in Egypt, we can feel that God has abandoned us or we even question if He
really exists.

Yet it was He who took the
initiative to reveal Himself to Moses as he went about his daily tasks of
attending the flocks and told Moses that He, God, was well aware of the
suffering of His people and that He intended to rescue them from their slavery
and redeem them with ‘outstretched arm’– and He gave them the Law, not to
enslave them again but to lead them to true freedom as His very own people and
He would be their God.

However He needed Moses’
co-operation – He gave him the mission of leading His people from slavery to
freedom and when Moses objects God simply re-assures him of His Divine Presence
– ‘I shall be with you’ was his reply.
In revealing the Divine Name YAHWEH – I AM WHO AM - He empowered Moses
for his mission.

In this morning’s Gospel the angel
appears to Joseph and tells him that Mary, his betrothed, has conceived a child
by the Holy Spirit and he must name him JESUS because he will save his people
from their sins. He will be Emmanuel –
God with us – thus fulfilling in a wonderful way the promises made to
Moses. Whereas when God appeared in the
burning bush, Moses was told to take off his shoes and come no nearer, as he
was standing on holy ground, Jesus the very Son of God comes among us as a baby
clothed in our skin so that we can all draw close to him and he to us.

As we prepare for his coming to us
anew this Christmas, may we who bear the name Christian open our hearts and
allow him to enter our lives with his light and love; his peace and joy – gifts
which riches cannot buy. May he so live
in us and we in him that we in our turn will become beacons of his light and
hope for all our brothers and sisters near and far as we journey towards our
Father’s house.

O Adonai and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush
and you gave him the Law on Sinai, O come and save us with your outstretched
arm.

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things
together in a strong yet gentle manner. O
come to teach us the way of truth.

We are immediately reminded of the
wonderful passages in the Old Testament which speak of Wisdom. There we read of Wisdom as proceeding from
God, as being begotten by Him, as being the beloved who at the beginning stood
beside Him, assisting at the creation – ‘ever at play in His presence and
delighting to be with the children of men.’

These passages concerning Wisdom can
be applied to the Word who in the fullness of time took on our human nature and
pitched his tent among us.

While in the Old Testament God’s
Wisdom was manifested by His governance of the created universe in a strong yet
gentle manner, being lenient and merciful to all because He loves all that
exists – it is in the crucified Christ on the Cross that we experience the full
revelation of divine Wisdom, of God’s infinite love and mercy for us human
beings. As St Paul tells us “God’s folly
is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge and of his fullness we have all received. He has become our wisdom and our holiness.” (1
Corinthians)

O Eternal wisdom come and teach us
the way of truth – He is Truth itself who leads us to all Truth – the truth
about ourselves, about our world, about situations in which we find ourselves.

In spite of whatever pain and
contradictions we experience in our own lives and in our broken, wounded and
violent world may we never lose faith in the fact that His strong yet gentle power
is at work and can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things
together in a strong yet gentle manner. O
come to teach us the way of truth.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

We are waiting for the Lord like the
farmer from today’s second reading from the letter of St. James:

“Be patient … think of a farmer how patiently
he waits for the precious fruit of the ground.… You too have to be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord’s
coming will be soon.”

Several
months ago we received the gift of avocados, and I kept the stone to see if it
would grow into a tree. I was told how
to plant it – that half the stone must be above water; while half must be
covered with water, so I took a plastic container with a lid, in which I cut a
hole the same size as my avocado stone, and I filled the container with
water. The stone was secure in the hole,
half submerged, half dry. I had done as
much as I could to help it grow and now there was nothing I could but
wait. From time to time I would add more
water to the container, like the autumn rains and spring rains. And I waited.

At the end
of a month, nothing seemed to be any different, … all my patience!

No signs of
life at all – the stone wasn’t getting any bigger … but I continued to add more
water, still nothing.

And then …
finally the stone started cracking – it almost split in two! In my ignorance I thought this meant that it
was dead. But I was hesitant to lose
faith, so I did not immediately throw it away.
Then, from the crack, I saw a single root begin to grow; then after some
more time, a leaf appeared. And so it
had not died after all!

Now it was
big enough to be transplanted into a pot with earth. And it continues to grow nicely.

The same
happens in the life of faith, when we wait for the Lord. After the
excitement of encountering the Lord in our faith, the time comes when
everything seems somehow lifeless – nothing is growing in our eyes,
visibly.We may go to pray and nothing
seems to be happening.We need to be
cracked and broken, like the avocado – or we would die inside.We need to watch and wait and wait and watch
for Him: not to look for entertainment in anybody or anything else.Just wait for Him.

For He will
come: it could take until the very end – even the day of our death, when He
will come, but He will surely come. We
need only to wait patiently for Him.

Vocation Weekends

Whom do you seek?

We seek God, Who alone gives meaning to our lives. Communion with Christ and with one another in love, through a life of prayer centred on Jesus, the Word of God and on the Eucharist, is the focus of our community life.

Single young women attracted to this way of life are welcome to contact us and we will arrange for a visit or some days in our retreat house - either at weekend or during the week. If a few are interested at same time, and if agreeable to all, we can also arrange for a group to spend a few days together.